For the May 1st-15th Patheos Book Club In early 1979, Hoa Chung had a dream. Although plans were coming together to leave communist-ruled Vietnam for a better life elsewhere, this dream was not a daydream of hope, but a vivid sleeping-dream. In it, her husband Hoa and their eight children fell dead in the middle of a thriving Vietnamese market. Then, they were resurrected one-by-one through the ministrations of “a man dressed in a white robe, with long brown hair... Read more
Our friend (and one of the fabulous Baylor history Ph.D. students) Paul Putz has a fascinating piece over at the Religion and Politics blog on the deep history of Christian matchmaking in America. After discussing the intriguing “matrimonial bureau” of Omaha pastor Charles Savidge in the early 20th century, Putz reflects on the contemporary relevance and challenges of online dating sites such as ChristianMingle. Putz says that Given the reality of our increasingly online, increasingly digital world, Christian niche dating sites serve... Read more
I refer to the blockbuster musical, not the sacred book of Mormons. Recently, I took a group of (mostly evangelical) students at Gordon College to see the play when it was staged in Boston. (No parents have complained—not yet anyway!) Much has already been written about the play. Still, after watching it, I could not withhold my two-cents. At many levels, it’s breathtakingly well done. The dances, the music, the set, the lighting, the dialogue, the wit brought the staid... Read more
I was reading a fictional account in which a gay man asks a pastor, a long-time friend, to perform his same-sex wedding. Although the pastor tries to keep his cool, the prospect appalls him. He warns that if this event did occur, he would avert his eyes in disgust if the two men kissed in front of him. He would be “totally grossed out.” Ultimately he decides that he cannot perform the wedding, mainly because “I’m a little worried about... Read more
This will not be Patheos’s best anniversary post. For starters, I just double-checked the guidelines and now see that anniversary posts were supposed to reach you between May 5 and May 7. I am late. Moreover, I have not prepared a video to upload for you to enjoy. This, however, is perhaps a blessing. A few years ago, I made a series of podcasts for a “blended” U.S. History survey course. I did not think the format improved me. Moreover,... Read more
As Tommy Kidd noted yesterday, we are in the middle of Patheos’ five-year-anniversary celebration. Congratulations to Patheos for successfully “hosting the conversation on faith” for the past half-decade. In my estimation, they have done a great job! For my part, this month marks a full year that I have had the privilege of writing for The Anxious Bench on the Patheos Evangelical Channel. As a result, I do not have a deep well of blog posts from which to draw... Read more
Congratulations to Patheos on its five-year anniversary! As I note in the brief video here, I have written for Patheos for several years, first as a columnist, then as a blogger and coordinator for the Anxious Bench group historians’ blog. Here’s some of my best posts during my time writing for Patheos: “Ask Jesus into Your Heart”: A History of the Sinner’s Prayer “If potential converts (children or adults) are so unfamiliar with basic Bible doctrine that they can understand... Read more
Over the past twenty years, I have taught an introductory World Religions survey course. Obviously, it’s difficult to say too much about these diverse traditions in such a limited time, but I usually find myself stressing one theme in particular. As you look at the different faiths, they have many divisions and competing schools of thought, and the issues that cause these splits and schisms look quite similar across faiths. Oddly, one much studied parallel is between Roman Catholic Christianity... Read more
My series on visions will resume in a few weeks. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that a film involving a young boy’s near-death vision of heaven and Jesus has become an unexpected hit. Right now, however, I’ve just finished reading The Good Lord Bird, last year’s National Book Award winning novel about John Brown’s fight against slavery. John Brown is one of my favorite subjects (see this post) in the history of American religion and the subject of many... Read more
Last week several dozen scholars of religion met at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom to discuss the global history of evangelicalism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The conference, organized by Kendrick Oliver, whose research on religion and the space program you really must become acquainted with, was terrific. Papers ranged from religious broadcasting (Tim Stoneman, Georgia Tech Lorraine), charismatic Anglican short-term missions (John Maiden, Open University), World Vision (David King, IUPUI), and Carl McIntire, the ICCC,... Read more
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